Milo Ventimiglia Looks Back on Heroes

Milo Ventimiglia is set to appear in Frank Darabont's new dramatic series for TNT, Mob City, beginning on December 4th. The actor first emerged on the world stage in 2006 on NBC's, at the time, innovative new series about real-world superheros. We had the opportunity to sit down with Ventimiglia to talk about Mob City recently (stay tuned for more on that). During our chat we briefly touched on his time on Heroes and what he took away from the meteoric rise of the series, followed by a turn in the critical and fan response in the latter part of its run.

IGN: Did you learn anything from your experience on Heroes, which was such a phenomena with a strong fan response, that you've taken into the rest of your career?

Milo Ventimiglia: I mean, it's funny, Heroes was such a lightning bolt hitting television and really did make such an impact around the world. It was good storytelling and it was a great concept. A lot of talented people were involved. Much like this [Mob City]. It's a world that people have always fantasized about, have been fascinated with, and romanticized.

IGN: Were you happy with the way that the show evolved?

Ventimiglia: You know, I think when you're in something for so long and I really cared about it. I really cared about my character. To see different directions followed...it's hard not to be a little sad or a little disappointed. Especially because we had a great group of people. We all had fun. We were all emerging. We'd all been around and doing this for a long time, but none of us had necessarily broke. We all kind of broke together. We hit the radar all together. And I think the kind of heat and flack that we took for creative choices - it was tough, you know? Because we all as actors had to take it on the chin because we can't take off our character masks. But also it's like, it's a job. At the end of the day, what can you do? I'm not the guy writing it. I'm just there saying the words and I'm doing the best I can and hope to always give fans what they want. Sadly, everything ends. Breaking Bad has to end. You know, The Sopranos has to end. There are things that you hang onto and wish that they could go on forever, but life itself has to end.

IGN: Did the fan response feel a little unfair considering that you were not the one's making certain decisions?

Ventimiglia: No, because look, a fan is a fan. You know they're going to want more. Even now in my Twitter feed I see, 'Give me more Heroes' and it's like, 'Sorry guys, it's been gone a long time.' I would never say it's unfair on the audience side. I feel like it's more unfair on the creative side when you feel like with stories or characters that there is kind of more to tell, but the business side of operations is favored more than the stories or the characters. That's a disappointing thing to see happen.

Watch for Ventimiglia's new series Mob City, which is set to premiere on Wednesday, December 4 on TNT.